THE CANADIAN PRESS

PARDUBICE, Czech Republic -- Brad Marchand's game-winning goal that launched Canada to the semifinals of the world junior hockey championship Wednesday felt like vindication for the Halifax Mooseheads forward.

Marchand, who scored midway through the third period of a 4-2 quarter-final win against Finland, was once worried he wouldn't even be invited to try out for the Canadian junior team.

Even though the 19-year-old from Hammonds Plains, N.S., had helped Canada win gold at last year's tournament, he wondered if he was branded a liability because of his lack of discipline during the junior team's summer Super Series against Russia.

He was benched for the final game of the competition and after the tournament was over, Super Series coach Brent Sutter told Marchand to clean up his act.

Those sentiments were echoed in the following weeks by the Boston Bruins at his NHL training camp, by his Val-d'Or club coach at the time and also by Canadian junior team head coach Craig Hartsburg prior to selection camp.

"I had a real attitude problem before and I wasn't the person I had to be off the ice and mentally to be a great player on the ice," Marchand said. "I learned that and was able to fix it before coming to (selection) camp.

"I wanted to be a lot more of a leader."

Marchand, traded to the Mooseheads during selection camp, is behaving like a veteran and assistant captain because he's not taking cheap penalties.

He's re-directed his energy into trying to score goals, which were hard to come by for Canada despite numerous chances in the quarter-final against the Finns.

Marchand and linemates Claude Giroux and Kyle Turris had several near-misses before Marchand wired the puck into the far corner behind goaltender Harri Sateri at 10:32 of the third.

The Canadian team's quest for a fourth straight gold medal for their country gets harder as they meet the undefeated U.S. in Friday's semifinal (2 p.m ET).

"We have a ton of pressure every time we step on the ice," Marchand said. "I don't think it changes, but I think it's going to be a lot more fun playing against the Americans because of the rivalry.

"I think it's better than Canada versus Russia now."

Russia beat the host Czech Republic 4-1 in Wednesday's other quarter-final and meets Sweden in the semifinal (10 a.m. ET). The championship game is Saturday.

Stefan Legein of the Niagara IceDogs scored in Canada's quarter-final and 17-year-olds John Tavares of the Oshawa General and Steve Stamkos of the Sarnia Sting each contributed a goal.

Guelph Storm defenceman Drew Doughty had his best game of the tournament and assisted on Canada's second and third goals.

The two goals scored on goaltender Steve Mason of the London Knights were groaners, but he made 21 saves on 23 shots for the win. Sateri made 28 saves.

Easily half of the announced crowd of 5,187 were Canadians, who continue to pour into Pardubice from home and around Europe.

Canada's nerves were evident as they had trouble keeping the puck on their sticks and were snakebitten around Finland's net for the first two periods.

Juuso Puustinen of the Kamloops Blazers gave Finland a 1-0 lead early in the first period with a high fluttery shot from just inside the blue-line that Mason said changed direction on one of Canada's defenders.

Finland's second goal was similar to a strange one scored on Canada's Jonathan Bernier in a 4-3 loss to Sweden on Saturday.

Jan-Mikael Juutilainen banked a shot from behind the goal-line off the side of Mason and into the net to tie the game 2-2 less than four minutes after Stamkos had put Canada ahead.

"It was like `Are you kidding me?"' Mason said. "It was tough to take, but I let it go. It's not the first time that's happened to me and it won't be the last time.

"The guys came back right away and scored another goal, which was huge. They battled all game long for me, which is nice to see."

Hartsburg would not say whether he was contemplating starting Bernier against the U.S.

"I think the first goal Mason would love to have back and the second one is a goal that we've seen in this building with funny bounces off the boards," Hartsburg said. "He got the win and that's the most important thing for us at this point."

.The quarter-final is an uncomfortable game because there's still the prospect of a gold medal for the winner, while the loser is knocked out of contention for any medal and plays for fifth place.

So there was a sense of a weight lifting from Canada's shoulders after staring down their first elimination game of the tournament.

"We know now we can face these types of games and this is a young team," said Hartsburg. "We got a little nervous, but we got our game back under control."

Doughty did the hard work on Stamkos's goal at 2:20 of the third period as the defenceman was hauled down driving behind Finland's net.

As the referee raised his arm to call the penalty, Stamkos tapped the loose puck at the side of the net past Sateri's blocker for his first goal of the tournament.

"I kept telling myself I was going to save it for the medal round," Stamkos said.

Tavares tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 7:23 of the second period. He strode out from the boards to the faceoff circle left of Sateri and beat him with a high shot.

He's playing a regular shift on Canada's second line with Shawn Matthias and Matthew Halischuk after seeing only power-play time to start the tournament.

"Tavares's goal on the power-play was huge in that it broke the ice for us," Hartsburg said. "We knew he was smart and he would figure this game out and he's one of our best players right now."

. CP player of the game(at) -- Drew Doughty. Guelph Storm defenceman's speed and puck skills led to a pair of key goals as he strengthened his case to be the first defencemen taken in the 2008 NHL draft. He took to heart pre-game advice of assistant coach Curtis Hunt, who told Doughty he needed to raise his game.

. Notes(at) -- Canada's semifinal appearance will be its 10th straight in the world junior tournament ... Turris (four goals, two assists) and Stamkos (one goal, five assists) lead the Canadian team in points ... Josh Godfrey leads Canadian defencemen with five assists.